COVID-19 RESOURCES
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

Of the Fells

"Roman was a good dog." Val said fondly, thinking about the dog that she had loved so much. He had died just before Christmas two years ago "The best that my brother could have gotten for me."
 
"Only th'best fer m'littlest sister," Durban kissed her cheek. After an easy and enjoyable hour or so with the little family, Theo and Valentina were just coming back into the courtyard when Valentina saw Brogan up and walking a bit unsteadily with Julia. She looked relieved to see him up, but there was something in her gaze that told Valentina that she was deeply upset about some secret thing. Vincenzo was watching over them, and one glance to Valentina told her not to ask and that he had full control of what was going on.
 
Valentina nodded to her father at his glance and she escorted Theo towards the couple. "Brogan. Julia. It's good to see you both up and around." Val said with a smile on her face as she hugged her brother gently and then her sister-in-law.
 
"Hey, Val..." Brogan gave her a weakened smile, and he gladly greeted Theo as well. "We're doin' jus' fine... only a little slow is all."

Theo then looked to Julia. "I... I've been meanin' t'ask ya whene'er y'were up... I'm not sure what it is y'want me t'do, Lady Julia."
 
"Oh, Theo. You can do whatever you wish here in Inverness." Julia said with a smile at the man that had saved her life. "We will also build you a house soon so that you can start to set down your own roots."
 
"Y'don' need t'worry about tha' m'lady. I can find m'own way."

"I wouldn't argue with 'er, Theo... she's stubborn," Brogan chuckled softly. Theo smiled and nodded.

"Then thank ya. I'm in yer debt."
 
Valentina smiled as Theo accepted Julia's offer. It made her feel oddly better to know that he was willing to set down roots there in Inverness, even though he had nothing to hold him there but his loyalty.
 
As the pairs parted ways, Brogan watched Valentina take Theo's arm once more and he gave Valentina a sly smirk, a silent tease that said 'Ooh, Val's got a new toy'. He gave her a wink before making his way away with Julia on his own arm.
 
Val gave her brother a glare as he made comment on her holding Theo's arm. She was just trying to be his friend. Nothing more. Her brothers seemed to have made up their minds that she was entering into something very serious with Theo.

"Would you like to go into the garden? I need to pick some herbs to dry." She said, looking at the man that was quickly becoming one of her closest friends.
 
"I'd be glad to," Theo smiled to Valentina and followed with an easy stroll beside her. As he became comfortable, he seemed to relax and act as if all were normal despite the fact that he was many miles from home, not to mention in a town ten times the size of his own even if Inverness was still rather small, and the guest and friend of royalty no less.
 
"So, when was the last time you were home?" Val asked Theo as she escorted him past the fence that kept the rabbits from the garden. "You could always travel there now that you're free of Wick."
 
"There's... no real reason fer me t'go back there anymore..." Theo murmured softly as his expression fell. Home reminded him of the family he'd raised there, and if he went back, he'd be haunted by the memories of losing them and how he'd been so powerless to help during the raids. "Most o' the people I knew're gone from th'island anyway. Best make a new life elsewhere, jus' the same."
 
"Of course you should go back. Your eyes lit up when you were telling me of the fells." Val insisted as she moved to the herbs that she needed and started to pick. "Perhaps when I return from Normandy, we can go up there together. I've always wanted to see the far north of Scotland."
 
"I... maybe..." he sighed. "Jus'... too many bad memories..." but again, he avoided actually telling her why. He, like Brogan had been, simply found it too painful to talk about what he'd lost. Valentina did not yet know exactly what he'd lost, but if Vincenzo was right, it was probably some family.
 
Val stopped what she was doing and turned to look over her shoulder. She tipped her head to the side as she always did when she was considering something before she slowly turned back to her herbs.

"Alright. Well, the decision is yours." She said as she tried to figure Theo out. He was deeply wounded but he had a capacity to care for others that was second to none.
 
"Yer probably wonderin' why I keep avoidin' the subject o' home, aye?" Theo asked softly. He knew most people who'd mentioned his home wondered the same. "Well... t'be honest... I don't like t'think about it after what King Lochlan did... 'e raided th'island during 'is war with Brogan, killed a fair many o' the people, took men as soldiers t'secure the safety o' their families... but I wasn' 'ome when it 'appened th'first time... No one was there t'protect my wife an' my girls an' my ill sister. My parents were too old an' weak t'do anything. My entire family, 'cept fer my sister, was killed... She was taken t'be a slave t'Lochlan... we spent three years in Wick, til she died protectin' little Ciaran..."
 
Val turned to look at Theo as he gave her the story of his life. She was shocked and immediately saddened by the turn of events that had taken away his wife and children and parents. She instantly rushed forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. Val wasn't a person to show great emotion, but when she did, she loved people abundantly and without hesitation.

"Theo, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to keep bringing up bad memories for you." She said softly, looking up at him with worry in her eyes that he would hate her forever.
 
"Don' be sorry," Theo gave her a small smile, wrapping his arms around her in return. He had a very warm and comforting embrace. "S'alright, I promise." He took it in stride as she'd seen him take everything up from the moment she'd met him.
 
"No. It means something to you, Theo, and I shouldn't have kept pressing." Valentina said as the door to the kitchen opened and Chessie came strolling out to gather some vegetables to dinner.

Val's eyes glanced down at Theo's arms as they wrapped securely around her body. She glanced back towards the cook and took a quick step away, her cheeks glowing hot at the compromising situation she had been found in.
 
Chessie just giggled away, "Oh, don't stop on my account, loves. Enjoy your boyfriend." She disappeared off into a separate part of the garden. Even if Theo was a bit embarrassed, he chuckled softly and lifted a hand to Valentina's chin.

"S'alright. Promise," he told her with a soft and handsome smile before gathering up her picked herbs in her basket and continuing to pick more.
 
Val was embarrassed by Chessie's comment, but Theo seemed to brush it off as it were nothing. She didn't apologize or say anything in return as she went back to picking herbs with him. She placed them in her basket, quiet and a bit withdrawn as she worked side by side with Theo to finish her task.

"When the basket is full, we need to dry these out." She commented softly. "In the rafters above my room, there should be some room to hang what we have here."
 
Theo laid what he had into the basket as she spoke, and he gave her a smile. "Well, it's jus' about full already." He waited for her to add her own in, and he carried it for her on their way to her room. As they entered, he smiled as he looked up to the rafters. "I'd wondered why it smelled s'nice in 'ere. Finally figured it out when I looked up."
 
"Brogan keeps threatening to move me to a nicer room in the keep, but I keep telling him that I am perfectly happy here with my herbs." She said, giving Theo a smile as she let him hold the basket of herbs as she went and fetched her step stool and a length of rope. "I always remember my Papa's house in Italy smelling like this too. Every summer he would teach me how to pick the herbs and dry them and what they were used for. I try to do the same for my nieces and nephews, but none of them seem very interested."
 
"There oughta be more along eventually. Don' give up," Theo encouraged. "An' there's always yer own family one day. Be a shame if an Ambrose 'r Ghis didn' carry on th'tradition." He joined her in hanging up the herbs, not needing a stool thanks to his height, and they made short work of it all.

Theo took up a position as, essentially, a Keep guard, but he was more often than not the children's guardian and Annie and Ciaran loved him dearly. It was just as Brogan was fully healed and had everything in order about a month later that Inverness learned that Sarah had taken over Wick without any doubt, but she wasn't coming for them quite yet. Vincenzo stocked up on everything he possibly could. He knew the war was about to kick in again. They were in his own study off the south end of the library as he took stock of his herbs when he met his daughter with a serious gaze.

"Valentina... you know what's coming, don't you?" She'd faced war before, but none like what Vincenzo feared was approaching.
 
"I'll never have a family of my own." Val commented as Theo stated that she needed to pass down her knowledge. "Who here in Inverness would marry me? I'm the odd one here. Not just because of the way I dress. They are use to Selena and I dressing in pants. They think I am a little cold. They think that I'm distracted easily."

She had no idea why she had confessed that to him, but she soon fell into a comfortable silence as he helped her in hanging the herbs to dry. In the months that followed, she found herself enjoying Theo's company. He was a kind man, one that made her smile and never made her feel strange for being the way that she was. Of course, she was oblivious to the attraction that was growing between them.

She was helping her father that afternoon when he looked at her and asked if she knew what was coming. She nodded, letting out a little sigh. "Of course I do, Papa. La guerra. Non ho paura. Brogan has led us through harder times then this."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The_gladiator
Virtue Signals: closed thread
2
Replies
25
Views
546
magellans_demon
magellans_demon
The_gladiator
Royal Intrigue: Closed Thread
2 3 4
Replies
79
Views
2K
magellans_demon
magellans_demon
Rocket1010
Kidnapped to an Island Paradise (closed for Magellans_demon)
3 4 5
Replies
120
Views
3K
magellans_demon
magellans_demon
shizzz
Annual Dunder Muflin Life Insurance Sales Conference (reserved)
Replies
6
Views
150
shizzz
shizzz
P
Seeking for a perfect wife ( reserved for lady jade666)
Replies
0
Views
68
Pleasuretiger
P
Back
Top